We've been posting a lot of great deals on Sony's 2015 4K TVs the last few weeks. The only problem with those panels is that, even on sale, they start at $900. That's a healthy wad of cash to burn on a new TV, even if it is a great one.

I have a 55 inch Sony TV with Android TV in my bedroom. I love it, the picture is beautiful, the apps load quickly and work well, and it's running freaking Android! That being said, I love it a little less today, because my TV is 1080p, and I paid more for it than the 55 inch 4K Sony that is on sale today. Dang it. Early adoption sucks sometimes.

The Sony XBR-55X810C 55-Inch 4K TV is available on eBay for $799.99 for a limited time. That is a great price on an excellent TV which retails elsewhere for a grand. It's a full $50 cheaper than the last time it went on sale. Like the TV in my bedroom, it runs Android TV and supports Google Cast out of the box.

In 2016, Samsung wants you to make one of its new Smart TVs the center of your smart home (assuming your home is smart, that is). The company has announced that each of its upcoming models will be able to connect to other Samsung devices and serve as SmartThings hubs, allowing them to connect to all SmartThing-compatible devices.

Remember Samsung's Smart View app? It's OK if you don't - it's basically a mix of a remote control and some Chromecast-style functionality, exclusively for use with both Samsung phones/tablets and Samsung smart televisions. It's the kind of cross-platform"synergy" that gets a lot of play in press releases and on-stage product reveals, but is rarely used by actual customers. The app listing in the Play Store is plagued with negative reviews complaining of frequent bugs and infrequent updates.

Samsung is apparently ready to start over, and I mean that literally: the new version of Smart View gets a completely separate listing from the older app (which is still available to download at the time of writing).

Xiaomi announced the Tegra K1-powered Mi Pad tablet today, but that wasn't the only impressive piece of tech the company had to show off. The Chinese manufacturer is back with its second smart TV, and this one's packing a 49" 4K display. To make things even better, the Mi TV 2 will go for CN¥3,999, a little over $600.

The Mi TV 2 has a MStar quad-core 1.45GHz processor, a Mali450-MP4 GPU, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal memory that's expandable with a microSD card. On the software side, it's themed with Xiaomi's MIUI TV skin. The product is launching later this month in China, but we're not likely to see it ship overseas.

Like it or not, TV-based operating systems aren't going away. Google TV, Samsung Smart TV, and others have all done their part to beef up your TV's IQ, and while each has found varying levels of success, none has quite gotten the situation right. One immediate problem with most options is the tool you're provided with out-of-the-box for controlling things. Typing in movie titles with anything that looks like a traditional remote is nothing short of a complete pain. One thing that can save you precious time is investing in a remote with a full keyboard.

You can currently get a TaoTronics offering on Amazon for just $19.99 following the use of coupon code 9EP9XSOT at checkout.

When a tech company holds a conference for developers, you can pretty much bet the speakers will have something new to share with the attendees. At the very first Samsung Developer Conference, this pattern continues as 5 new and updated SDKs have been announced for the company's various platforms. This batch of SDKs are centered on Android, Smart TVs, and enterprise development.

Samsung Smart TV SDK

Samsung Multiscreen SDK

Samsung Multiscreen Gaming SDK

Samsung KNOX SDK

Samsung Mobile SDK

The Mobile SDK is technically new, but it's really meant to bring together various TouchWiz SDKs that had previously been distributed separately.

I went to LG's CES press conference, so I kind of feel obligated to write about it, even though nothing much happened. The biggest news out of the conference is that the translated "Google TV 3.0" press release we came across a few weeks ago is bogus. At the time we thought it meant a new version of GTV was coming, but it turns out it's just the same software that's been out since November, with a new launcher made by LG, which they referred to as their "3rd generation skin."

Lenovo wasn’t on the list of Google TV partners, but for good reason: the company has just announced that, in addition to its new tablet and smartphone, it will soon be launching a “Smart TV” powered by none other than Ice Cream Sandwich.

Indeed, Lenovo hasn’t abandoned all hope of an Android-based TV OS; in fact, the situation is in reality quite the opposite – with the K91, it’ll be embracing everyone’s favorite robot completely. Its (presumably heavily) modified version of the OS will feature: